Knowing Its Weakness Microsoft also seems to understand its weak position in the market. "The decision to use Linux or Windows is often more political than technical," noted George Weiss, an industry analyst with Gartner Group Inc. "While Windows...

Not only did the supercomputer, appropriately dubbed Columbia, stretch Linux's performance boundaries, but it also strained NASA's installation capabilities and the manufacturing ability of the hardware supplier, Silicon Graphics Inc . That's because the supercomputer went from design to deployment in 120 days...